By Dele Sobowale

Before Your State Governor Runs Away– 1

“Politicians are their own grave diggers.” Will Rogers, 1879-1935,

VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 171.

In case you are wondering why some of them will run away before May 29, 2015, consider this. On that day, the man who had been surrounded by tough-looking security people will find himself alone with the people he had ruled for eight years. Only God can save him if he still owes civil servants three or four months’ salary, as well as local contractors who might never get paid.

Nigerian Governors and their Commissioners of Finance, as a whole, must be the most ill-prepared to govern any sub-national unit in the world. Almost invariably, the electorate does not know what they stand for. With the exception of a few, most lack the basic understanding of economics and finance. Their collective ignorance had been masked by years of robust crude oil prices – making it possible for them to spend like prodigal sons without caring if the spending is wise and sustainable. So, a governor announces N5000 per month allowance for the elderly and he is hailed. Another appoints 1,000 Special Assistants and people clap. Such eccentricities, bordering on economic lunacy, had been rewarded with awards by various self-serving organizations in the past.

It is fortunate that almost all are still in the saddle as the national cake shrinks in size. It would have been interesting to watch them squirm for two more years, instead of two months, as they try to find explanations for why they cannot pay salaries after years of wasteful spending.

But, the main reason they might run away has not been disclosed. Let me do it now and it can be summarized in one word – SUCCESSORS. One of the reasons incumbent governors want to impose their chosen, or wife-chosen, successors is to escape exposure of the atrocities committed in office. Unfortunately for the outgoing governors, both those who impose or fail to impose their successors will face the same ordeal from whoever succeeds them. As Ayo Fayose is discovering in Ekiti, others will discover in June that the only way they can escape unfair comparison with their predecessors is to point accusing fingers at their predecessors. Political “godsons” will become the loudest whistle-blowers from 2015. The outgoing governors have mostly dug their own political graves. Most out-going governors will find it difficult, if not impossible, to visit their own states in broad daylight after May 29, 2015.  So, the governor you see strutting around the state today might vanish suddenly, under the cover of darkness, before May 29, 2015. Watch out…

CLARIFICATION OF ATTAH’S STAND ON AKS ELECTIONS

“To be great is to be misunderstood”, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882.

(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p 81).

Obong Victor Attah, the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, AKS, (1999-2007) and the acknowledged Father of Modern AKS, is the only politician in Nigeria I can call my friend. But, he is more than that; he is a role model, a counsellor and a good sounding board. The major negative attribute about Attah is his total attachment to the original principles of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which as a member of the G-34, he helped to establish. He had been on the Board of Trustees ever since.

Next to the death of his wife over two years ago, nothing pains Attah more than the total bastardization of the original principles of the party which has resulted in its nearly total disintegration today. Meanwhile, all his attempts to talk to those who have “captured” the party had been met with rebuff. He is not alone. Chief Don Etiebet and the G-22, AKS community leaders, who were there from inception, had been sidelined while the party’s political principles had been thrown into the dust bin. Until now, party members in Akwa Ibom selected their own flag bearers for every position. Now, somebody’s wife alone decides for them. At least Governor Akpabio himself only recently disclosed to the entire country what the party members and the people of the state had been saying all along.

Again all attempts to get party leaders at the national level were rebuffed. Telephone calls went unanswered; even personal visits yielded no results. Meanwhile Akwa Ibomites themselves wanted a say in who governs them. Then they took two steps. First, they organized a reception for Attah, last year, to demonstrate appreciation for his contributions at the National Conference as a VOICE OF REASON. Second, they asked him to counsel them in the selection of a leader since the PDP had rejected them. Their search for a credible candidate for governor led to the emergence of Umana Okon Umana who was presented to Attah for blessing on Saturday, March 21, 2015.

By accepting the invitation to attend the rally, Attah was merely taking a stand against wrong doings in the PDP and hopes to act as a corrective voice within the party after the elections when a process of re-appraisal will become inevitable.

It has become necessary to explain the position because I talked several times with Attah and it was clear how difficult the step will be to understand by those who were not privy to the truth. And who might misunderstand it.